The present invention relates to a sealable cup for holding and dispensing drinkable fluids. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved arrangement for a sealable cup which seals automatically to prevent spillage of fluids therefrom when the cup is not in use.
Cups are widely used for drinking liquids. These cups usually have an open mouth. Travel mugs and other spill-resistant cups that come with lids or caps are also known for covering the mouth to resist spillage of the cup contents. In addition, sports bottles are often provided with a screwed-on lid having a built-in straw, and a cap for sealing the end of the straw. Some of these sports bottles also have a manually operated pop-up vent which is sealed when pushed down and open when pushed up. These sports bottles still suffer from the problem that they will empty their contents if the bottle is tipped sideways, unless, fortuitously, the straw had been previously manually capped, the vent had been previously manually pushed down, and the fit between the aperture and the lid and the straw was truly sealing.
One type of commercially available cup for use by anyone, and particularly well suited for small children, includes a cup body and a lid which fits sealingly onto the cup body, with the drinking spout incorporated into the lid. Some self-sealing spill resistant cups are known and commercially available. These spill resistant cups all suffer from a variety of disadvantages.
One example of such a cup is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,013 to Belanger. Belanger discloses a dripless liquid container for training and feeding a young person to drink. The container of Belanger has a cup-shaped liquid housing and a lid which fits sealingly on the housing. The lid has a spout for drinking out of, with an outlet formed in the lid and in fluid communication with the spout. A spring-loaded self-sealing outlet valve is provided in fluid communication with the outlet. The lid also has an air inlet formed therein which admits air to replace the volume of fluid removed from the housing, with a spring-loaded self-sealing air rim and control valve in communication with the air inlet. The liquid container disclosed in Belanger because of the inclusion of the spring loaded valve is complicated to manufacture and assemble. The configuration of the valve also makes it difficult to clean and thus maintain sanitary conditions. Further, the cup disclosed in Belanger is relatively expensive.
Another example of a spill-resistant cup is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,620 to Belcastro. Belcastro improves on the liquid container disclosed in Belanger by eliminating the use of spring-loaded valves and utilizing self-sealing inlet and outlet valves which include disc shaped flexibly resilient diaphragm members. However, the drinking container disclosed in Belcastro utilizes a valve comprised of a plurality of separate and discreet parts in order to provide sufficient force on the diaphragm members to keep them from being open at all times. The use of these multiple parts provides a number of disadvantages, including increasing the cost of manufacture and assembly, as well as the time. Further, the more parts that are present, the longer a cup typically takes to clean or sanitize. Moreover, some of the valve parts are free-floating and not rigidly secured therein. If these parts move, they can affect the performance of the cup, including causing leakage, and potentially raising safety concerns.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatically sealing cup for use by infants and small children having improved valve members which particularly provide sanitary operation and are inexpensive and easily maintained.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an automatically sealing cup having an inlet valve and an outlet valve wherein the inlet and outlet valves operate on a flexibly resilient diaphragm principle.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an automatically sealing cup having inlet and outlet valves that are constructed of less parts than prior valve arrangements.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an automatically sealing cup having inlet and outlet valves that cannot become displaced with respect to the cup to ensure proper operation and no leakage.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an automatically sealing cup having a valve assembly that is smaller than prior valve assemblies.
In accordance with the above and other objects of the present invention, an improved self-sealing drinking container is provided. The self-sealing drinking container includes a cup body having a hollow interior for holding and dispensing a liquid, and a lid assembly which fits sealingly onto the cup body. The lid assembly has an inlet passage with an inlet valve in communication therewith, and also has an outlet passage with an outlet valve in communication therewith. Each of the inlet and outlet valves includes a cage having an open top and an open bottom to allow fluid to pass therethrough. Each of the inlet and outlet valves includes a locating member that extends toward a respective valve seat. Each of the locating members is secured to a flexible diaphragm member which is positioned in the respective valve seat. Each diaphragm member has a plurality of stiffening ribs that extend generally from an outer periphery of each flexible diaphragm member inwardly toward each respective locating member.
Other objects, features, advantages, and benefits of the present invention will become apparent from a review of the specification when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.